


reflection of shadows

by orphan_account



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, arsene gets more rights than in the game, kind of surreal?, not even im sure where this came from lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-02-16 19:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18697555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It hurts, in the way that limbs that don’t exist shouldn’t.





	1. feathers

**Author's Note:**

> interesting (?) idea i had. it's not going to get much longer than this
> 
> though it's not mentioned, ren is the only one affected here. don't worry about it lmao

It hurts, in the way that limbs that don’t exist shouldn’t. 

Ren climbs to the rooftop the day after everything happens. The day after he discovered the part of himself he never knew and the part of himself he always buried, the day after Arsene came to him in a storm of blue fire and magic. He stands in the open space, flexes the muscles in his back, and lets his not-quite-new wings catch the breeze-

Nothing. There is no movement other than the wind through his hair and pain, settling deep in his stomach. The feeling of absence is heavy on his heart. Yet there is no absence. No part of him is missing, nothing is even out of place. It’s a disconcerting feeling that settles over him in waves.

Arsene’s sympathy washes it out quickly, phantom wings blocking out the airflow on the roof for just a moment. Ren smiles, a tiny shift of his features for barely a second. His persona knew how to make him feel better, despite the amount of energy it apparently took to manifest even the tiniest bit outside of the strange castle. They’d only been together for a day, but Ren couldn’t imagine a life without Arsene.

He hesitates to call it dependency. The only thing he was dependent on was himself in this situation, and isn’t that what everyone always wanted? His parents certainly did. 

After only a few more minutes, Ryuji bursts through the rooftop door, and Ren waves at him. He’d eventually stopped standing in the middle of the area like a weirdo and sat down to wait for his friend. When Ryuji starts to rant and yell about the shadowy castle of yesterday, Ren lets him and forgets about phantom limbs and inhuman feelings for just a moment.


	2. claws

When Ren, in a moment of weakness, digs his nails into his arm and lets himself cry, he expects puncture wounds straight to the bone. Instead, there is just a muted sting. He blinks back his tears and looks down. 

His nails are the same tan color of his skin, and they’re short. The way they sit on his fingers makes him want to gag

It’s worse when his hands aren’t even enclosed in blood red gloves the same color as Arsene’s coat. His pale, too-human hands flex awkwardly. They don’t look right. 

There are no black-clawed fingertips, no scarlet palms; there is only resounding discomfort and the cold of his school’s empty hallway.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, Ren falls to the floor. His arms curl around his legs, which he refuses to think about out of fear of fully breaking down. Why is he so weak?


End file.
